Hu Yaobang

Hu Yaobang (20 November 1915-15 April 1989) was Chairman and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 29 June 1981 to 15 January 1987, succeeding Hua Guofeng and preceding Zhao Ziyang.

Biography
Hu Yaobang was born in Liuyang, Hunan, China in 1915, and he joined the Communist Party of China during the 1930s, becoming one of the youngest veterans of the Long March. He rose to prominence as a comrade of Deng Xiaoping, and he was purged, recalled, and purged again during the Cultural Revolution for his association with Deng. After Deng rose to power, Deng promoted Hu to several positions, and Hu oversaw several political and economic reforms during the 1970s. The party elders opposed Hu's free market reforms, and his opponents blamed student protests on his "laxless" and "bourgeois liberalization". He resigned as party secretary in 1987 and died in 1989. His death led to the Tiananmen Square protests that same year.